One of the things that’s been firing my rockets here in Kona is the atmosphere of hope. Youth With a Mission has always attracted dreamers, and after spending these weeks among so many YWAM friends I’ve realized that my ability to dream has been severely effected by living in a post-Communist nation. Obviously that’s a problem, and I’ve already repented. But the reality is – the hopeless spirit of Communism never stops assaulting the human spirit, even when the person happens to be a Christian missionary.
To carry the Kingdom in one’s heart is to dream with God. The difference here in Kona is that people actually talk about their dreams. They tell stories of how their God-dreams are being fulfilled. Whether its providing drinkable water to African communities or beginning pre-schools in Albania, rescuing the young from sexual traffickers, or preaching the gospel to multitudes, God’s dreams are being fulfilled all around.
It turns out my nervousness about teaching long-term missionaries about the Kingdom was really unfounded. These people are just as hungry to experience the story of God as every other person I’ve met. We’ve had lively class discussions and lots of encouragement to keep on.
Praying for God’s dream: “Thy Kingdom come,
thy will be done in Earth as it is in heaven.”
Dispatches from the Shadowlands 
I cannot grasp the hopelessness of a society trying to escape from totalitarianism, but I see a different kind of hopelessness here in the United States. The hopelessness of the pursuit of wealth as a means of happiness. Watched the movie “The Pursuit of Happiness” the other day. In the film, Wil Smith ponders why Thomas Jefferson put these words in the Declaration of Independence. He goes on to endure a number of hardships before he gets a job as a stockbroker. When he does, he runs out of the office into the street pumping his fists. In that moment, he narrates something like “This moment is happiness.” It lasted a moment, the point being that the pursuit now had to begin again. How hopeless. To suffer and sacrifice for a moment of happiness. It wears one out. What Thomas Jefferson should have said is to find “happiness in the pursuit.”
“To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” Ecclesiastes 2:26
This is happiness – “since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Romans 5:1-5
Keep on dreaming Don! Your constant, persistent faith may seem like the small pebble cast into the huge lake, but the ripples are proceeding ever onward to the far shore. You may never see them returned, but know that they are out there.
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I wouldn’t say Don is just a small pebble, after the many years of sacrifice, the fruit of the spirit is obvious for those who have noticed the significant fruit that Don has contributed to the Kingdom of God. Just look at the young men once boys he discipled through the years. Don’s sacrifice has paid dividens no bank could hold. Sowing into the lives of the youthful generations to come all over Europe. Don is very gifted and set apart as an example of one completely sold out to the great commision. What pleasure he must find in his walk with the Lord. Well done, good and faithful servant are words he will one day hear, he is too humble to recieve this but someone should say it. Lord bless you Don, your life is significant, more that you know.
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Thanks guys for the thoughts. I think you’re both saying the same thing. It’s true my life DOES sometimes feel like a pebble thrown into a vast ocean. But on a deeper level I know God has made each of us significant, and that there are ripples only He can see. Hopefully, if I plant my seeds carefully and lovingly, they will produce a great harvest that could potentially change nations. Still, God alone is the only one who can really judge all that in the end.
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